Setting Field Access

When editing the contents of a data access section the list or records and single record tabs look identical. It is easy to get confused here. Keep in mind you are setting the same parameters for two different display modes. That's why there are two identical tabs. Each field in your data table is listed here with the addition of five fields created behind the scenes by SiteMaker (which always exist and cannot be deleted). Here's a description of each column of the table.

• The Show field checkbox basically turns that field on and off in the visitor's view of the section. For list view you will probably want to uncheck all but the most basic fields that will identify a record while leaving more fields visible in single record mode.
• Field name is self-explanatory.
• Field type is self-explanatory.
• The allow edits checkbox dictates whether a field can be edited from the list or single record view or not. If the section is meant for data editing you will probably want to allow edits of all your fields in single record view while only allowing a few (if any) fields to be edited from list view. System fields cannot be edited by a user.
  
• Field options are described below.
• Change order allows you to change the order the fields are displayed to the visitor.

Add Records Form

The add form tab is similar to the list or records and single record tabs. What's missing is the ability to allow edits or not (turning this off when adding a new records would not make sense). The system fields are also not listed here (since users can't edit them).

Field Options

The field options shown depends on the type of field. All fields allow you to set a default value of some sort. This speeds data entry if you anticipate the majority of the records will have the same value in a field. You can also set the display width for all fields (and height for text fields as well).

For text fields you can turn on the rich text (TinyMCE) editor. Advanced mode is what you are used to seeing when editing a text/image section. Simple mode only offers a few editing tools. When using the rich text editor make sure you set the field height to at least 5 rows so it can be properly displayed.

If you opt not to use the rich text editor but want to have a text area (a text field that is several lines high) you might want to consider checking the box to display carriage returns as line breaks.

You can set the format for date/time fields to change how the timestamp is displayed. This is why SiteMaker is so picky when you enter a date and time. If SiteMaker can interpret that data then it can convert it to most any format you need.

You can set the format of a number field as well.

You can also set the displayed value of the checked and unchecked states of a checkbox. Keep in mind field still only hold the values true and false. The values for true and false are only used for display purposes.